Many of us would have to
concur that poetry is an extremely powerful tool in helping us make
some sense out of a multitude of challenges that otherwise may prove
difficult to comprehend. No doubt, words have a healing power and
they have even caught the attention of psychiatrists, oncologists,
and others who have used poetry as a therapy in their professional
practices. German playwright, poet, novelist and dramatist, Goethe
believed that “a man should hear a little music, read a little
poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that
worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God
has implanted in the human soul.”

In the introduction to
Mentoring Poems: Four Centuries of Selected Poetry Mary
Anneeta Mann states: “Poets are historians of the heart. They live
in the realm of spirituality, inevitably connected to the Source of
all Life, or God and they adjust to the best of their ability, to
their surroundings, mundane or otherwise, to their environment,
inspiring or depressing, to their civilization at whatever level the
perceive it.”

With
Mentoring Poems, Mann
has put together a wonderful anthology featuring over one hundred
poems that can be succinctly described as a celebration of poetry and
the passion it inspires. The poems have been arranged in such a way
that readers will find them easy and a pleasure to dip into from
time-to-time. As great poems have the power to speak to us across
the ages, Mann's choices span four centuries from Shakespeare to the
present. In this anthology you will find some of your favorite gems
as Rudyard Kiplings If, William
ButlerYeats' The
Song of Wandering Aengus, Robert
Louis Stevenson's Requiem,
John Keats' When I have fears, Robert
Frost's The Road Not Taken and
there are others not as familiar as Thomas Lovell Beddoes'
Dream-Pedlary or Edward W.
Houston's Addiction
but nevertheless illuminating just the same. More importantly, you
can expand your range of poetic interest, find new favorites, and
learn about different approaches to the poetic art. As Mann
mentions, these are poems she has found to be of interest for a
variety of reasons, or as she asserts, “have shaped by her own
life, with a greater awareness of Australian poetry particularly in
its tough yet carefree formative years of the nineteenth century.”

Mann
has broken down her anthology into fourteen sections dealing with the
following topics: character, art and beauty, joy, wonder and melody,
remembrance, Australia, War, peace, poets, love, love of the land and
the planet, courage, addiction, reflection, and wisdom. Mann ends
with an explanation of philosophy diagram. Mann's choices how poetry
can be part of the healing process and how it can soothe the soul,
can mentor the heart and encourage us to find meaning in our lives
and understand our role in the universe.

No
doubt, in addition to being a collection for everyone, the poems
contained in the book will also lend a helping hand to those readers
that wish to strike out on their own beyond those that are including
in the book. Unfortunately, many of us avoid reading poetry because
we think it does not speak to us or is too difficult to understand,
however I am certain that after dipping your toes into Mentoring
Poems you will discover at least
one poem that will change your view about poetry.